THE BOMBAY High Court on Wednesday concluded the submissions of the Maharashtra government, State Election Commission (SEC) and BMC in a plea by two BJP councillors challenging the November 30 Maharashtra government ordinance that notified the increase of nine seats in the civic body.
A division bench of Justice A A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja was hearing the plea by BJP councillors Abhijit Samant and Rajeshree Shirwadkar, which challenged the state urban development department notification increasing the number of seats in the BMC from 227 to 236 after the proposal was cleared by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The petitioners, through senior advocate Veerendra Tulzapurkar, said the ordinance is based on the 2011 Census and as these figures are more than 10 years old, amending the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act on their basis is illegal, it added.
The government called the grounds raised in the plea “unjust, arbitrary, mala fide and politically motivated” and said the ordinance was promulgated after following due legislative process.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni for the government argued that the plea was filed on frivolous grounds and should be dismissed with heavy costs for wasting court’s time.